User:Chris G. Silva

A major force in the regional theatre movement, in 1972 Chris graduated from San Francisco State College and immediately founded the Eureka Theatre in a San Francisco commune. While he was artistic director, the theatre presented west coast premieres of works by Sam Shepard, Athol Fugard, Bertolt Brecht and Mark Medoff, among others. The theater went on to present the world premiere of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America”.

Chris moved to New York City in 1978, and was hired by Joe Papp's Public Theatre as Associate Director on the U.S. premiere of Sam Shepard's “Curse of the Starving Class,” which received an Obie Award as Best Play. The following year Chris produced the U.S. premiere of Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo's “We Won't Pay, We Won't Pay!” which received the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play.

Later that year, with several partners Chris took over the management of the Chelsea Theatre Center in mid-town Manhattan, forming the Westside Arts Theatre, a three theatre commercial off-Broadway complex which saw the premieres of Chris Durang's “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You,” William Finn and James Lapine's “March of the Falsettos,” Farrah Fawcet in “Extremities,” and “Penn & Teller,” among many other plays and musicals.

In the early 80s, Chris founded a non-profit arm of the Westside Arts Theatre called New Writers at the Westside where he developed new works for scores of playwrights, including Arthur Miller, David Mamet, Wallace Shawn and Donald Margulies. In 1983 Chris became supervising director on Sam Shepard's “Fool for Love.” The play received three Obie Awards including Best Play with a cast that included Ed Harris, Kathy Baker and Bruce Willis. At this time he also became Program Director for New Dramatists, the nation's oldest playwrights' service organization, where he helped to develop the plays of 40 member writers, including August Wilson and John Patrick Shanley.

In 1985 Chris became supervising director on Sam Shepard's “A Lie of the Mind” which received the NY Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play. The cast included Harvey Keitel, Geraldine Page and Amanda Plummer. In 1989 he produced and directed Casey Kurtti's play “Three Ways Home,” which starred Mary McDonald, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and S. Epatha Merkerson. The play was purchased by Columbia Pictures, and shortly after the sale, Chris moved with his family to Ulster County. In the early 1990's, Chris freelanced as a producer and director in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco and also participated in festivals in Cuba, Berlin and Sundance, Utah. In 1993 he completed “MIA: Missing in America,” a short film about homeless veterans featuring Anne Meara. It premiered at the Los Angeles International Film Festival, received an Award of Special Merit from the Vermont EarthPeace Festival and an Excellence in the Arts Award from the Vietnam Veterans of America. It has been broadcast several times on PBS.

In 1994 Chris became Executive Director of the 944 seat Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie, New York. Since arriving at the Bardavon, Chris has overseen the theatre's dramatic growth from an $800,000 annual operating budget in 1994 to its present $3.4 million annual budget and the completion of over $11 million in capital projects. Besides presenting illustrious artists as diverse as Itzhak Perlman, Al Pacino, Diana Ross and Bob Dylan, he has also established major events outside the theatre’s walls, including the Hudson River Arts Festival, Celebration of Lights and Kids Expo and has spearheaded the expansion of the theatre's community outreach, daytime children’s programming and in-school residencies.

In 1999 Chris oversaw the rescue from bankruptcy of the region’s oldest professional symphony orchestra, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, which the Bardavon now manages and presents. In 2002 the Bardavon was honored to receive New York State's highest cultural recognition, the Governor's Arts Award. In May 2006 the Bardavon took over the management and operation of the 1500 seat Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC) in Kingston, New York and is currently presenting in both venues. Chris and Bardavon Production Manager Stephen LaMarca were operating consultants for two years during the creation of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, New York and they currently serve as program and marketing consultants for the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.